Wonder Woman Annual Vol 2 2
Supporting Characters: * * ** Bryan ** Deni Hayes ** Garrett "Garry" Rosenzweig ** Steve London Antagonists: * Other Characters: * ** ** * Locations: * ** *** **** Mayer Publicists, Inc. Items: * * * Vehicles: * | StoryTitle2 = Headline | Synopsis2 = Julia recounts how the name Wonder Woman was first coined - as a headline for a Boston newspaper. From that day on, the news media would remain a constant presence in the Amazon's life, publicizing everything from the battle against Godfrey's Warhounds to rumors of a love affair with Superman. The latter particularly troubled Wonder Woman, especially after her disastrous "date" with the Man of Steel; some weeks after the fact, the two would reconvene in their civilian identities, and admit to a mutual lack of chemistry. Though this quashed any further prospects of romance, the friendship between Wonder Woman and Superman emerged stronger than ever - and remains so to this day. | Appearing2 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * * Antagonists: * Other Characters: * Carol Bennett * * ** ** ** ** Locations: * * ** *** Items: * | StoryTitle3 = Trademark | Synopsis3 = Once Myndi's secretary, now the Agency's majority shareholder, Chrissie Fenton recalls the Agency's very first licensing arrangement with Wonder Woman - a girls' fashion line modeled after the heroine's costume. The line was an instant success, its imitation "Amazon Bracelets" commanding especially high prices around the country; naively, Wonder Woman had assumed this would help spread Amazon ideals across Man's World. In time, the line's downsides grew clear: far from teaching anything about Amazon ideals, the bracelets had become a status symbol, and many girls who could afford them formed cliques to exclude girls who could not. Julia was especially displeased to find Vanessa - gifted a specially-engraved set of bracelets by Myndi - had joined one such clique, in the process snubbing her poorer classmate Eileen Flowers. When Vanessa used her own savings to buy a set for Eileen, Eileen bitterly rejected what she saw as an act of pity. Eventually, Wonder Woman herself had stepped in. With Myndi's acquiescence, she restructured the line so free bracelets would be sent to any child who wrote expressing interest in Themyscira's principles of love and equality - an act that ended most of the cliques and doused much of the ill-will between Vanessa and Eileen. Soon, the two girls would not only reconcile, but become genuine friends. | Appearing3 = Featured Characters: * * Supporting Characters: * * * * Antagonists: * Other Characters: * Joanne Ridings Locations: * ** *** **** Adams School Items: * | StoryTitle4 = Logo | Synopsis4 = Licensing manager Garry Rosenzweig recounts one of the Agency's smoother projects - a Wonder Woman comic book published through DC Comics. Though the market's traditional disinterest in female protagonists - and tendencies toward formulaic violence and sexual exploitation - were troubling, Wonder Woman soon approved the title after meeting with its artist Trina Robbins and reading her proofs for the first story, Play Like. | Appearing4 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * Antagonists: * Other Characters: * Locations: * Trina's studio Items: * | StoryTitle5 = Play Like | Synopsis5 = After winning an essay-writing contest, a Chinese girl named Mei is invited to visit Themyscira with one guest. She chooses her brother Han, a restless boy who is quick to dismiss the Amazons' peaceful culture. To enlighten Han, Wonder Woman presents the children with a magical machine that can project any fantasy into reality. Upon trying the machine, Han creates a monster resembling his favorite action figure, which immediately threatens Mei. At Wonder Woman's prompting, Han uses his love for Mei to build a force field around her, thwarting the monster. As the monster fades away, Han realizes "Mei" was only another projection; the real Mei had been watching from the sidelines all along. The siblings then continue their tour of Themysicra, Han just a little wiser for the experience. | Appearing5 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * ** * Han * Mei Antagonists: * Destructar Other Characters: * Locations: * Items: * Imager | StoryTitle6 = Banner | Synopsis6 = Chrissie recounts the Agency's most ambitious project - a charity foundation, set up in Wonder Woman's name, backed by a dozen of America's most influential feminists. Initially pitched as the Princess Diana Foundation, it met with great ambivalence from its namesake, who associated the name with egotism and idolatry. However, at Julia's suggestion - and Myndi's promise it would be renamed to the more inclusive Wonder Woman Foundation - the Amazon Princess approved. For Myndi, Chrissie speculates, the foundation was more than just another avenue of publicity; it was a genuine attempt at legacy, to make sure her efforts would be remembered for generations to come. After Myndi's death, Wonder Woman would do her best to honor these efforts, using the foundation to launch the anti-drug Myndi Mayer Fund. | Appearing6 = Featured Characters: * * Supporting Characters: * * * Steve London Antagonists: * Other Characters: * ** ** Locations: * ** Mayer Publicists, Inc. Items: * | StoryTitle7 = Marquee | Synopsis7 = Garry recounts one of the darkest byproducts of Wonder Woman's celebrity - a Wonder Woman-themed sex show, held without license, in Boston's red-light district. The night he had first learned of this, he had immediately tried to issue a cease-and-desist notice, only to find the show already ended; to his horror, both its manager and its star had been brutally murdered. The incident took a heavy toll on Wonder Woman, especially when she perceived Garry as prioritizing the Agency's licensing rights over the murders. Her emotional burden only grew once the Boston police caught the murderer - a Greek national named Nikolas Pappadimos, who soon showed her chilling proof that he had killed in her name. | Appearing7 = Featured Characters: * * Garrett "Garry" Rosenzweig Supporting Characters: * ** ** * Antagonists: * Nikolas Pappadimos Other Characters: * Benny Lesser * Dolores Valesquez Locations: * ** *** **** Combat Zone Items: * | StoryTitle8 = Legend | Synopsis8 = Drawing on a letter her mother had recently sent, Julia continues Garry's story: what Pappadimos had shown was Wonder Woman's emblem, tattooed directly onto his arm. Not long after, Wonder Woman learned her name had become something of a bane in Greece, especially on Julia's home island of Cephalonia; there, what was once the anti-Circe resistance had mutated into the Amazonians, a cult dedicated to worshiping Wonder Woman as Circe's slayer and harassing the area's Christian majority. Realizing Pappadimos must have been acting on these teachings, Wonder Woman flew to the cult's headquarters - once Circe's island Aeaea, now renamed Dianata and boasting a huge statue of her. Her arrival was celebrated by dozens of cultists, most of all their leader, former Resistance lieutenant Katina Leikos. More perturbed than ever, Wonder Woman confronted Katina over the murders; though quickly disavowing Pappadimos as a "true" Amazonian, Katina maintained that violence was an acceptable means of championing their faith. Unwilling to be worshiped, especially in so barbaric a manner, Wonder Woman had called on Hermes to explain that he was the one actually responsible for ending Circe's reign. However, even this could not sway Katina, who insisted that faith was a matter of what worshipers choose to believe, nothing else. Finally acknowledging the cult was beyond debate, Wonder Woman shattered the statue built in her honor, warned her so-called "faithful" that their worship was more suited to Circe, and departed. After this incident, the Amazonians supposedly scaled back their activities, though their presence continued to weigh on Cephalonia - and Wonder Woman's conscience, as well. | Appearing8 = Featured Characters: * Supporting Characters: * * Gregori Davalos * Agostos Deneiros * Mariah Deneiros * Antagonists: * * ** "Amazonians" Other Characters: * Locations: * ** ** Items: * | StoryTitle9 = Tribute | Synopsis9 = After all these reminiscences, Wonder Woman herself explains what her epithet - and the emblem and costume behind it - truly means. More than a mere crimefighting moniker, it is her method of honoring Themyscira's greatest hero: Diana Rockwell Trevor. The Amazon Princess recounts a recent visit to the old Trevor home in Oklahoma, made with Steve and Hermes. There, the former had gifted her one of Diana's few surviving photographs, while the latter explained how Diana had been able to enter Themyscira at all: a cosmic rift, stemming from the Manhunters' murder of Pan more than a millennium ago, had disrupted the island's mystic storm-clouds. At the same time, this rift weakened Doom's Doorway enough for Cottus - and all the other demons imprisoned beneath Themyscira - to break. Had the demons broken free then and there, they would have merged with Ares and corrupted him beyond any hope of recovery; this would have allowed the War-God to raze Olympus, and all of creation, unopposed. Diana's quick and selfless sacrifice, however, had successfully driven the demonplague back and given the Amazons time to repair Doom's Doorway - and thus, it had been a weaker Ares whom Wonder Woman faced, and ultimately redeemed. Such is the pilot's true legacy: the survival of not just Amazons, but Gods and mortals alike. With her story done, Wonder Woman gathers the assembled materials and leaves for Themyscira, prouder than ever of her heritage and mission. | Appearing9 = Featured Characters: * * Supporting Characters: * * * * Antagonists: * * * ** Other Characters: * ** ** ** ** * Locations: * * ** * ** *** Items: * | Notes = * Issue includes a Who's Who profile on Mayer Publicists, Inc., detailing the agency's history and main staffers. | Trivia = | Recommended = | Links = }} Category:Annuals